Phospholipase C role in stomatal development.

BERAMENDI, IGNACIO; SCUFFI, DENISE; LAXALT, ANA M.; GARCÍA-MATA, CARLOS

Santa Fe

Congreso; RAFV XXXIII; 2021

Stomata consist of two guard cells (GC) around a pore and act as turgor-operated valves for gas exchange and transpiration in plants through the formation and regulation of stomatal pore.Phosphoinositide-specific phospholipases C (PI-PLC) is a gene family with 9 members (PLC1-PLC9) in Arabidopsis thaliana. PLCs are known to participate in diverse signaling processes in plants, embryogenesis, root development and plant pathogen interaction. In Arabidopsis, PLCs 3, 5 and 7 were reported to modulate stomatal movement, however there is no information about PLC role in stomatal development. Stomata are formed by asymmetric divisions of meristemoid stem cells forming meristemoid (M), and then meristemoids forming guard cell mother (GMC). Finally, the GMC are divided symmetrically to generate two GC. These processes of stomatal differentiation are regulated by different transcription factors, including SPEECHLESS, MUTE, FAMA, etc.In the present work we evaluatethe role of PLC5in stomataldevelopment. Weanalyzed the variations in the key stages, M, GMC and GC among Arabidopsis wild type (wt), PLC5 knockdown mutant (plc5), and PLC5 overexpressing lines (OE-PLC5) plants. We have also analyzed the expression pattern of PLC5 in the different development stages, and we compare it with the expression levels of the key transcription factors controlling stomatal development. The presented data indicate that OE-PLC5 has alteration in stomatal pattern at the GC stage, suggesting that PLC5 might be involved in the process of stomatal development.